Correllas Johnson tries to stay warm during a cold day on Sixth Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. Johnson has been living on Sixth Street since Christmas after he was evicted from his hotel room.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Correllas Johnson tries to stay warm during a cold day on Sixth...

Image 2 of 8

A city Department of Public Works truck was broken into on Sixth Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

A city Department of Public Works truck was broken into on Sixth...

Image 3 of 8

Graffiti covers the site of the Tu Lan Vietnamese restaurant on Sixth Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, which was shut down by the health department last year.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

Graffiti covers the site of the Tu Lan Vietnamese restaurant on...

Image 4 of 8

A man sleeps on the sidewalk on Sixth Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013.

Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle

A man sleeps on the sidewalk on Sixth Street in San Francisco,...

Image 5 of 8

A broken stroller is abandoned on Sixth Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013.

Correllas Johnson tries to stay warm during a cold day on Sixth Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. Johnson has been living on Sixth Street since Christmas after he was evicted from his hotel room.

As a metaphor for the ongoing problems of Sixth Street, this is perfect. A new police substation is supposed to calm the raucous, sketchy street scene along the two-block corridor south of Market.

On Wednesday, there was broken glass in front of the storefront where the substation is supposed to open in two weeks. The shattered window was on a Department of Public Works pickup.

That's right, at 11:30 a.m., city workers building the police substation had their truck window jacked.

"That says it all," said Kurt Abney, owner of Dottie's True Blue Cafe, a few doors up the street. "It happened to a car right in front of the restaurant last week."

In other words, things are status quo on Sixth. A little more than a year ago, the mantra was that getting some thriving businesses in the Mid-Market tech boom would begin to transform the neighborhood.

Well, the techies are there. Mayor Ed Lee says some 3,300 new residences are in the works in the area. And Dottie's, which has its one-year anniversary Sunday, has proved that breakfast all day (especially with killer baked goods) can be a hit. Abney says his sales are up 40 percent from his previous location on Jones in the Tenderloin.

What he's not getting is support.

"I brought 100,000 people to Mid-Market in the last year (who) wouldn't have come otherwise," he said.

"I'm bringing you something. And you promised me something. I have a DVD of the mayor standing on my roof and saying that. And what I am getting is a lot of non-help."

Abney doesn't expect the strip of single-room-occupancy hotels and hole-in-the-wall shops to turn into Pier 39.

But a few weeks ago, when a disturbed woman wandered into the dining room, shouting and raising a ruckus, he called the police. Four and a half hours later, the cops arrived.

Police Chief Greg Suhr says better days are coming. The number of foot-patrol officers along the Mid-Market corridor decreased by half when staffing dipped below mandated levels because a lack of funds for new police-academy classes meant that retirees could not be replaced.

"We went from 32 on foot patrol to about 18," he said. "Once we get back to a full complement, our goal is to always have an officer within eyeshot of that area."

Suhr has no timeline for when staffing actually will get a boost. However, he does hope an officer will be at the substation at least once every day. Lee says his idea is that the substation also would be used by other groups, including the community ambassadors, who are non-police uniformed city employees who offer assistance.

Supervisor Jane Kim, who represents District Six, said, "The number of criminal incidents in that area is huge. We need to think about what the next step is."

Suhr was willing to listen to the idea. He said boundaries are re-examined every 10 years and should be up for review in the next few months. Suhr cautioned, however, that switching district lines would be a major project.

For now, the hope is that the substation will be a game changer. Correllas Johnson, a homeless man huddled in a blanket on a Sixth Street alley, said the police presence would be a huge help.

"It would stop all this traffic," he said. "They won't be out on the corner. They are going to be - zoop - gone."